I was working as a special adviser at the Department of Trade and Industry at the beginning of the 2000s when Sir Ronald Cohen began pushing for what was eventually to become, in 2011, Big Society Capital (BSC), the world's first social investment institution...

In the run up to the G8 meeting next week, social impact investment took a major step forward on 6 June as the UK Government hosted a G8 Forum drawing together sector leaders from G8 nations and beyond.

Last week I found myself speaking out against the government's Big Society Capital launch. Not because I wish to stand in the way of new funding mechanisms but because I know from experience what it takes to make a charity a viable, investable prospect.